Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

KEENE, N.H. – Grace Hallett sliced a walk-off single down the right field line with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to help the Keene State College softball team pick up an exciting 2-1 extra-inning victory over the University of Massachusetts-Boston in the opener of an important Little East Conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.  While that might have been the biggest moment of the day, KSC carried the momentum over to the second game and drubbed the Beacons 8-0 for their first sweep of the season, moving closer to snatching the sixth and final playoff spot.
 
Records

• Keene State:  7-21, 6-10 LEC
• UMass-Boston:  3-10, 3-10 LEC

 
How It Happened – Game One
In a pitcher's duel between KSC's Alexis Blanchette and UMB's Brianna Melchionda, it was the Owls who had the last laugh, getting consecutive hits with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to post an exciting walk-off victory.  Both teams had chances scattered throughout, but it was KSC who capitalized last by churning out a run in an inning that initially did not seem to be headed anywhere.  Melchionda had retired six consecutive batters, including the final three in the sixth after KSC put the first two on, and then added two more to start the eighth to make it eight in a row sent down, but Megan Blanchette broke that up with a solid single to right, one of her three hits on the afternoon.  She also drove in a run and is up to an impressive .322 batting average in her rookie season, recording a hit in six games in a row and seven of the past eight.  Blanchette was able to move to second on her hit in the eighth after the ball was misplayed by Drew Washington, and that proved to be costly when Hallett stepped to the plate and walked it off with a nice piece of opposite-field hitting that scored pinch-runner Hannah Loftes, who slid across the plate with ease for the 2-1 victory.
 
Keene State struck first when the hot-hitting Blanchette played Olivia Albert, who led off the second inning with a double, and maintained that advantage until the fifth before UMass-Boston tied it on a run-scoring error.  KSC had chances to add to their 1-0 lead, but stranded five runners across the third and fourth innings, including three in the fourth.  Alexis Blanchette escaped any further damage in the fifth beyond the one unearned run and then allowed only a pair of harmless singles over the final three frames.  The Owls put the first two on in the sixth when both Blanchette's reached – Alexis on a walk and Meghan on a single – but could not convert against Melchionda (2-4), who got out of it.  However, just a few innings later, she was not as fortunate and wound up taking a tough-luck loss, allowing eight hits and two runs (one earned) in 7.2 innings.  She issued two free passes and struck out seven, adding to her K total on the season (now 51 in 43.1 innings).
 
Alexis Blanchette (4-7) lowered her season ERA to 3.90 after allowing one unearned run on eight hits in eight innings.  She walked just one and struck out four.  Albert doubled and scored a run for KSC.
 
How It Happened – Game Two
The second contest – again another important one in the race for the final playoff spot – appeared to be heading in the same direction as the first, a close, low-scoring battle, but the Owls shredded that script quickly, scoring eight times in the fourth in an 8-0 win that locked up their first sweep of the season at a most critical time.  KSC improved to 6-10 in league play and currently occupies the sixth and final tournament spot, which begins next week.  Seventh-place Western Connecticut is 4-10 and has two remaining games at home against Plymouth State University (9-3 LEC) on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.  Keene State will need the Panthers to win at least one of those games to lock up the sixth spot.  Their only other way in for the Owls if WCSU swept the doubleheader would be a three-way tie at 6-10 with UMB (currently 3-10) and WestConn.
 
In the nightcap, Keene State got a strong start from Olivia Albert, who did not allow a run in five innings while whiffing four.  UMB scattered five hits, two from Melchionda.  One of the Beacons' best opportunities came in the top of the fourth when she led off with a single and Allie Diaute singled two batters later to put runners on the corners with one out, but Albert whiffed Elayna Jacques in a key spot and then got Jordan Toomey to bounce out to third to escape trouble.
 
KSC ran away with it in the bottom half of that same inning, scoring eight times.  It was again the Blanchette sisters who got things going, each reaching to kick off the frame.  Hallett's grounder to third was mishandled, but she did drive in the game's first run regardless.  The first out of the inning came next, but by the time the second one came, the Owls had plated five more runs, including a bases loaded walk by Sara Cote and RBI singles from Frank and Albert.  Keene State sent 12 batters to the plate in that inning, one in which UMB needed three pitchers to get through.
 
Albert struck out the first two batters of the fifth and then worked around a pair of infield singles, securing the key sweep after taking care of Melchionda's comebacker back to the mound.  Frank finished 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.  Meghan Moran also had a two-bagger in a 1-for-3 effort.
 
Jacques started in the circle for the Beacons and went three-plus innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with one walk and one strikeout.
 
Around the Horn

• Keene State averaged 1.3 runs per game while hitting .222 in their opening 13 contests of the season, but increased that to 4.3 over the final 15 while hitting .288 as a team.
• After dropping their first six home games of the season, the Owls split their final eight (4-4).
• KSC swept UMB for the first time since 2016 and leads the all-time series 41-7.

Up Next

• Keene State will pay close attention to this weekend's action and hopes for at least one Plymouth State victory (or a three-way tie at 6-10 for the final playoff spot) that would allow them to keep playing in next week's Little East Conference tournament that begins on Tuesday, May 11 at the campus sites of higher seeds.
• UMass-Boston visits No. 6 Eastern Connecticut tomorrow, May 8, at 1:00 p.m.  The Beacons had won back-to-back LEC titles in 2017 and 2018, but will not make the tournament this season.